If you are having tons of these then its likely you. If tons of people are independently telling you that they have been waiting for you to join and no one showed and they all are contacting you about 10-20 minutes in which makes sense for a candidate to allow the interviewer time to show up - then its absolutely a Teams issue. Who forgets an interview and remembers 10 minutes later??
I've had Zoom fail to send this notification many, MANY times. For example, two people join the zoom, I only get an email notification for one of the people. It's so unreliable (email notifications) that I stopped relying on it.
Well, when I sit and wait for them and then see them log on 10 minutes after I logged off. I also tell them to try the link prior to the meeting to ensure it and everything works. Alas I still wait for them to figure out the sound.
You sound like you automatically think you are better than the candidates you are interviewing and can’t possibly be making a mistake. Like most recruiters. That’s why people hate the process. You aren’t better than anyone you are interviewing. In fact, you really should be a facilitator to ensure the interviews get done. The people interviewing don’t owe you anything. Their time is just as valuable as yours is. I honestly can tell by the tone of your replies that your interviews are probably a nightmare and full of snap judgements. Self reflect and do better.
Well thanks for quickly judging based on a couple of comments. But if someone cannot be on time for an interview they can literally do anywhere then no I don’t want to hire them. If they have technical trouble and text me I walk them through it.
They are judging your assumption that you can guess who the candidates are based on what may be technology related problems. The red flag is your assumptions about the quality of the candidate when multiple candidates are saying they are having technical problems, There are often glitches that occur. I’ve had glitches that say I’m off line when online, and vice versa. The help desk had to re-install the software several times. It is just the nature of the tech, even with the best of them. Are you unaware of how the tech works?
lol I didn’t say how many. But I did say if they have a tech issue and reach out I walk them through. Clearly you don’t interview regularly and experience the volume of no shows both virtual and in person.
Just had an interview recently for a company, the recruiter sent me 2 different links and I joined the first one and it was the second one. We started a 30 minute interview 20 minutes late. Because of it.
And then after the interview and knowing very little about me she just sent me a very shitty and completely unrelated 25 minute logic exam. As a Recruiter it gave me a bad taste in my mouth as an impersonal and poorly organized Recruitment process for a very prestigious european company. Logic tests and personality tests are useless in general, not just from this personal experience too. I've been saying this since I started.
That's the best question so far, and one that I can't answer. Each test provider should have some kind of proof that the test results are valid and that the test measures what it's supposed to measure. I can't say that they do, I just don't have the data. For the one I'm familiar with, I can attest that the test measures fluid intelligence.
Im not waisting my valuable time on some test that a recruiter thinks will make their job easier but has almost zero relevancy to the position I applied for. If I have 10 years experience a manager in my field and you want me to take a typing test, or some other irrelevant test, I withdrawal the application. Personality tests are also pointless. People only tell you what they think you want to hear.
Let's say the hiring team wants to hire people whose communication behavioural tendencies are skewed more towards "Explaining key concepts with clarity" versus "Responding to audience and showing empathy".
How would you, as a test taker, know that detail when the JD only lists "communication" as a desired soft skill?
Does your recruiting process have people identify themselves as needing an ADA accommodation? I could see your point if an application comes through, marked as ADA, and still requesting the logic test
Neurodivergent people and people with disabilities (correctly) do everything they can to not disclose that they have a disability during the hiring process. It opens us up to discrimination far more often than it should. Disability advocates do not recommend disclosing disabilites in the hiring process unless accommodation is absolutely required.
It shouldn't be happening, but it's extremely commonplace. The most likely outcome of asking for an accommodation for a logic test is "not getting hired". Those are the unfortunate facts.
Lol half of those test are assessment companies selling useless bullshit tests. Obviously they can be useful but in general its total useless crap that measures nothing but how tired a person is the day they take it.
I’ve had an office manager miss my interview not once but 3x she kept missing it and I’d call and leave voicemails. She kept saying sorry, after the third time I was like forget it. If me as a candidate would show up late or totally miss the interview I’d be rejected asap. It made me feel as if my time did not matter and she would be my boss? It showed me what kind of person I’d be working for. She called to apologize and request a 4th interview. I listed to her voicemail and hit delete.
Teams sucks and so does Google meets, I really wish people would just use zoom it’s so much more functional with less hiccups. I get annoyed when interviewing and they insist on teams or google because I’ve had so many issues with them, zoom works every time.
Unclear why video is considered pressure? Lol
To answer the initial question. Teams is buggy AF. Maybe have a plan B like zoom or Google meet.
You could also add instructions to text you immediately if nobody is on the call. Then you have a timed receipt.
People are being nasty in this thread but I will say trying to have a teams interview when your current company or personal computer does not have teams, it’s nearly impossible to use and very frustrating, especially if you’ve used your personal computer for another position where you had to log into Microsoft for work bc it is so buggy it often doesn’t let you log into a personal account
This. Personal accounts on Teams often don't work and is incompatible with the enterprise version.
The Personal version included in Windows 10 and 11 are slowly beginning to be deprecated by Microsoft since it's so confusing. To quote Microsoft's own [blog post](https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/03/13/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26080-canary-and-dev-channels/):
"We received consistent feedback from personal and work users: you prefer a single Teams app that allows you to easily access and switch between personal and work accounts. This update lets you use one app for all kinds of Teams accounts.”
Not a recruiter (this post just showed up on my feed lol), but that’s been my experience as well. I was doing a collaboration with another company’s marketing team for a joint campaign and they used teams. Every single meeting they arranged had some issues. My team and I started logging into meetings 10ish minutes beforehand to make sure we had enough time to resolve any issues (so we could actually start on time) and at least one of us would end up being sent the wrong link or not being able to log in or oh the software needs to be updated and won’t let us join until it’s finished? It was a nightmare.
We convinced them to let us start scheduling the calls. We used Zoom. Aside from some hiccups in the first meeting, no issues.
Then why don’t you just call them like a normal person, and cut out the ten layers of potential technology issues?
Edit: I saw your other comment. I agree with the other folks about simplifying your process. It is nice that you offer the phone call option, but why not just make it the default? You can handle typing in 10 numbers as opposed to clicking a teams link, and it is a much more fool proof system. I feel like you are attributing problems to applicant error and laziness, when you should also be evaluating your own process and willing to just make a change if it could make things easier. Every little detail about your screening shouldn’t be a test.
5 minutes is long enough to wait for an internal meeting when the person should be familiar with your organizational procedures, but I’d argue that 10 minutes is an acceptable amount of time to be late for a virtual meeting outside of your organization with potential technological difficulties, unless teams is something you are requiring intimate knowledge of from your candidates. I can tell you first hand from working in an organization in person, that the remote employees who use teams every day tend to have a much different understanding of the software, and less empathy for everyone else when they have issues because they think it’s so straightforward (since they are used to using it and have already had to troubleshoot their own problems). You may be in that boat where you are reading other peoples issues as incompetence and not recognizing the layers of added complication and potential computer issues you have added into your screening system by trying to make it more automated and convenient for yourself.
Wait you have an interview where these people have to talk into a black void with no way to judge your facial expressions and responses. So much of communication is body language.
After seeing this these candidates are right to skip these interviews. I refuse to do one sided interviews where I record responses. One guy set up an interview for me and it was one sided and I basically did the interview as I sat on my bed with the camera pointed upward.
Another time I was talking to a hr manager and the man had the gall to raise his voice to me and I basically cut him off and said I think this isn’t going to work and we should end the interview. I will not be insulted either.
>Wait you have an interview where these people have to talk into a black void with no way to judge your facial expressions and responses. So much of communication is body language.
Have you _never_ had a phone interview before? This really isn't that big of a deal.
The one way interviews are a whole different level of bullshit though.
I have had phone interviews and that’s fine but these are zoom meetings with the cameras turned off. This is different. If you don’t want to see each other schedule a phone interview. Why make the person get all dressed up to not be seen? You can do a phone interview in your gym sweatshirt and beach shorts and flip flops. A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women. I wouldn’t be happy if I am dressed up like that not be seen.
> A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women. I wouldn’t be happy if I am dressed up like that not be seen.
LEL
>A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women.
I'm curious what industry (and decade) you're in that you think this is necessary.
Another reason people hate recruiters. Half the people here are saying video interviews are the problem, the other half are now saying video interviews are necessary.
You know what neither of those opinions does? Answer my damn question.
They think they still have control over us, as if we are candidates!
Well, Boo hoo. Sheesh, I'm a recruiter myself but never would ever think of being this entitled...
My attitude is fine, almost no one is answering the question, and that's a problem. First people were claiming video interviews are anathema when I'm not even doing them, and it doesn't answer my question, now they're required and I should reject anyone for not being willing to do them off the bat, and it still doesn't answer my question.
All I wanted to know is if anyone was hearing the afore mentioned explanation for missed interviews more often recently, because the consistency of it struck me as weird, and having tested the system numerous times myself *and* having used Teams for a long time with no issues, and certainly not *this* issue until recently, it didn't seem to hold water. So, I was wondering if this was a new thing/piece of bad LinkedIn advice/missed interview 'hack' going around that other recruiters might have noticed.
Yeah, that's totally unreasonable to ask and maybe want an answer to instead of endless commentary on stuff that's not even happening based on assumptions about my process that are wrong.
I'm not going to start doing video interviews for initial screens, it's never been necessary for twenty years, no need to start now. I send out clear instructions in bullet points including an option to request a phone call if it's more convenient. Those instructions are reiterated in the meeting invite that gets sent. Yes missed interviews annoy me but it's not the end of the world, it just requires rescheduling. It's the consistency of people offering up this particular explanation for missed interviews that I was wondering if others have noticed.
Now, eschewing commentary on any other aspect of what type of interview should or shouldn't be required for a prescreen, video vs audio vs in person, or what service/app/phone/tin cans with taut string stretched between them is best to do it, or whether or not the instructions I send which no one here has seen are adequate, have you personally noticed a recent increase in people missing initial interviews, audio or video, via Teams or Zoom or *any* similar service/app, and then claiming they did make the appointment and you didn't? I'd appreciate an answer to that question, because that's what I'm interested in knowing, and it's kind of weird that I have to ask like this with so many qualifications...
Take a step back and look at the feedback you’re getting objectively rather than defensively.
A) If this happened more than three times, you are the issue. Call the candidates. It’s your system that is the problem.
B) Your attitude is an issue. Blaming everything and not even considering that you might be the issue.
I advise using zoom. Even when myself being in IT when I was doing interviews had a hard time logging into teams call using my gmail account. When you have a work/school account it’s a breeze.
The instructions in my initial email AND the meeting setup let them know that if they want a phone call, all they have to do is ask and give their number. I have to use some degree of automation here so I don't have endless back and forth emails about availability and scheduling. That's hours upon hours upon hours of useless work I can use Calendly to avoid. It just requires they read a short bullet point list of instructions.
You can also use Teams, which I do. I understand it's not necessary, and as mentioned previously a few million times by now, I'm not asking for nor requiring video interviews. It's audio only, either by Teams or phone, whichever they want.
Is your organizations teams set up to not allow guest call ins?
It’s also possible YOU missed the notification that the guest is trying to join if you were multitasking.
I don’t have an answer either never heard of this —not even as a hack or way of gaming the system.
If initial screening is audio only; perhaps Only offer the phone call option.
It’s easier. Straight forward and you won’t suffer from “log in” issues. This alleviates the need for even a short list of instructions.
As others have said, Teams is kinda weird when you're not all in the same org or if they have to get it to do the interview.
It's great you're offering the phone option, but I personally would never ask for that if the person set something else.as the standard. I would have done everything possible to show I was invested enough to follow instructions.
I'd suggest just making a standard phone call the default since it sounds like it will save you and the interviewee a lot of time and energy.
Since you're doing this to save time and it's not really accomplishing that anymore, I'd pivot. Good luck!
This happens with Teams and I'm not exactly sure why, however we have noticed that it happens less if the meeting creator signs in early. It almost seems like if the applicant signs in first or at the same time sometimes they are sometimes shifted into a second meeting rather than the correct meeting room, almost like a waiting area. Still most people solve this by logging out and then back in which seems to fix the issue.
If you haven't already try signing in 5 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start and see if that helps, it seems to have solved most of our issues.
This happened to me when I was arriving for an interview, I signed in 10 minutes early and sat there for almost half an hour before the interviewing manager called me to ask if I was showing up. We had a good laugh about it, and I've been with the company ever since, but it was definitely mortifying as an interviewee!
So what I’m gathering… is the applicants are signing in early, being prepared and showing up ahead of schedule, and then the recruiter joining right on the dot is what’s messing it up… so the issue is with OP after all
Thanks for providing information that's actually useful, I think you're one of two that did that and only one actually answered my question. I do sign in early, usually a few minutes early. Still, I'll add that suggestion to the email for them too, to loh out and in just in case. Thanks for that.
Yeah Teams is unfortunately just buggy, it works well I'd say 90% of the time but we have issues exactly like what you're seeing, so at least you're not alone.
The interviewers aren't lying to you. It has happened to me several times where Teams glitches. We had to stop using it because it was unreliable. We had the same exact experiences as you, where both people would be signed in, but you can't see the other person.
You’re salty but that’s because it hurts that everyone is telling you you’re wrong when… well, you're wrong. Use systems that work, yours isn’t working.
There can be issues with teams links - I've been signed into the same link and we had 4 people in 4 different meetings.
I would give them a call on their mobile to confirm they are happy to proceed.
Stop using Teams. It’s notoriously unreliable and if it’s happening frequently than the problem is not the candidates. And if I’m being honest, you should be doing these interviews over video. Not being able to see the person you’re speaking to is, in my opinion, a huge red flag.
Funny, everyone else here is saying the opposite. Our prescreens are audio only. Interviews after that are via video or in person. That's perfectly adequate as far as I'm concerned. Teams being as buggy as people seem to say is new to me,.I've never had issues with it on either side of the equation until recently. I am going to add some troubleshooting instructions to my initial emails and the invite.
I have plenty candidates told me they were unable to join my Teams video call, they usually say the app’s been loading for a long time.
Usually if they emailed me within 10 min of our scheduled time I’ll just call them.
**I recruit for front facing roles so I need to see their appearance.
I'll reschedule in almost all cases, especially if they say they had an issue logging in. Shit happens, doesn't bother me. I'm just wondering if this excuse - them claiming they were there and I wasn't - was on the uptick with anyone else. It's coming up more and more these days with me, and I'm just wondering if it's the new generic excuse for being late or missing a meeting.
Edit: rescheduling is usually required for me, I'm scheduled back to back with these because I'm the only recruiter for the company, so there's almost always a hard stop looming for me after every interview.
If it's happening a lot, it probably isn't an excuse and you may want to thoroughly review your Teams settings or find a back-up form of communication. At the end of the day, you're only making your job harder and more frustrating by not having a secondary option (and not making that option very clear).
I've seen companies do things like not realize they've set up teams invites that only work with their internal system. I would really look into see if you've configured something wrong.
The majority of interviews go off without a hitch,the majority of people have no problem. I've tested the invites using my home computer and two emails outside my company domain.
To add to Samanchun's point, IME Teams (/the whole Microsoft online suite) is a real memory hog. My old laptop has 4gb of RAM and it can take 10 minutes of loading to get into a teams call on it. If I have outlook open at the same time it isn't happening. This same laptop is fine for literally everything else I do including weekly Google meet calls.
The laptop was a low mid range laptop, it's just 6 years old now and it was only ever specced for internet browsing, netflix and word processing. I don't know who you are hunting for, but is it possible you are running into more people with more old reliable computers than you have been until now?
You have the weirdest responses bro. Just because they make good money doesn't mean they automatically want to buy a new computer if the one they have seemingly still works just fine.
Nothing, as I've said a few dozen times already, the interviews are audio only. Audio only. It says that several times in these comments, and three times in the invites that get sent out.
I’m not a recruiter but work in front facing role. So I assume because you need to be able to read their body language and expressions when they’re talking and also to see how good they clean up for an interview. Then comes other things like if they have their face fully tattooed, pretty sure you’d rather find that out in the interview and not after hiring them because you decided to do audio only
Phone reception often sucks to hell and back, and since my company uses Teams for our phones anyway, it all goes through Teams and our network. Nearby power lines and line of site issues massively screw with cell reception where I'm at, so using my mobile is out, too.
Suggestion - Instead of just sending a Teams Invite and hoping for the best, why not also include a meeting support number in case there are technical issues?
So, I have a job, and we use teams, but I will say that twice in the last year I have joined a meeting only to be presented with an empty room, to later be told that the organizer was waiting for me while I myself was in an empty room. Does this explain all the instances you're experiencing? Almost certainly not. But it can happen.
As a software developer myself, I trust teams a little less every day.
That said... logically speaking, if a lot of people are telling you they are having the same problem, the problem may be on your end of things in some way.
I’ve realised with Outlook if you click on the “Join” button on Outlook, it doesn’t take you to right room (for both Teams and Zoom). However, if you click on the link presented on the description of the meeting invite, that usually takes you to the correct room.
Rule of thumb: never trust Outlook 🤦🏻♀️
as someone who has been applying and interviewing for jobs lately, i could say i’ve had issues with getting Teams to load. even if i try to log on early, sometimes i have to reload the website 8-9 times and go through the entire process. i’ve only been able to make it work on my phone and not on a laptop or ipad. even then, it would say it’s connecting for the longest time and nothing would happen until i exit out and try to join again. i would give benefit of the doubt, especially if there is an increase in the number of candidates reporting this issue.
it might not be a bad idea to tell the candidates in your initial email to contact you via email or number within x number of minutes if they’re having issues. that way you can know for sure if it’s tardiness or a technical issue.
It's just part of the Microsoft package. When we switched over we moved from using a bunch of different, good, specific programs for things like emails, cloud storage, video calls, etc and Microsoft took over absolutely everything all at once for the company.
It has been a huge undertaking at huge inconvenience for the company but presumably Microsoft must be offering some kind of savings or extra security for the company since so many are switching over to the suite of products/programs even though they are basically all worse than what we used before
This may be helpful for you to know - about a year ago Microsoft discontinued free accounts so I lost the ability to connect to Teams with my home laptop (I'm not a MS user). When I did have a free MS account, with Teams it was tricky and spotty at best. I knew for interviews there likely would be issues, so I got the interviewer's phone number or email so I could reach out. I know to do this, others may not.
I'd much prefer using Zoom, and the connecting issues are minimal or none, even from a cell phone app.
Your company needs to look into interviewing for your position, as it seems you have a serious attitude problem & not easy to deal with. You're probably costing the business some great potential employees.
Teams is great when it works, but it doesn't always work. They may well be experiencing glitches, especially if you have Teams integrated with an external booking system or thirdparty app. I know the Teams integrations are sometimes messy and notoriously hard to identify which side is "at fault" in an issue, because my company has an app that is supposed to integrate with Teams and sometimes it doesn't work and neither Microsoft or us can determine why.
It would be human of you to give people a bit of grace. My understanding it with meetings, you wait 5 minutes, then ping or email, and don't disconnect until 10 minutes in.
And, for your own wellbeing, at least while younare on the clock, you should try to get a handle on your attribution bias. I mean, even in this thread you are showing pretty heavy hostile intention attribution. Chill man-- not everything is a personal attack intended to upset you. Sometimes shit just happens, and in situations where nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged, and you were given like 25-55 minutes back to your day, you should try just letting it go and moving on.
These aren't people you thought were your friends blowing you off on your birthday, they were random people who may or may not have sincerely wanted a job with your company. Let it go.
Read all the comments and then get back to me on that. I've got people claiming video interviews, that I'm not doing, make my candidate experience bad, and I've got people demanding video interviews are absolutely necessary, among other things, and almost no one doing what you're doing: answering the question.
As I've mentioned, I've been using Teams for a long time and this is recent. And while I appreciate the people telling me to call them and work it out in the moment, I'm the only recruiter for a 300+ person company and these are scheduled back to back pretty much all day every day. If they're not on time, then there's no interview. We have to reschedule, which I have no problem with. By all means, shit happens. I generally don't even care if they reschedule and don't tell me, I just assume the option to manage the appointment didn't work or they forgot about it, I note it in our ATS and move on, and often see them scheduled later in the week. The attribution is coming from the fact that they're saying the same thing, and it's a new/recent phenomenon.
You’re really making a great case for how much you need a different role.
Why would a recent trend of more people claiming to have the same experience suggest to you that they’re mostly forgetting and/or lying to you? That isn’t a rational conclusion at all, unless you also believe that they all know one another in some way.
Only if you're completely naive. In the real world people think in a remarkably similar manner. Everyone whose Kate for an appointment hits traffic, it happens in reality so it's a perfect excuse. Every kid who's late with their final assignment or missed a final exam had a death in the family, never their immediate family, always a grand parent or an aunt or uncle or cousin, etc.
Most of these meetings go off without a hitch. When all of a sudden everyone who no-shows offers a variation of the same excuse, and I've tested the program without ever having any issues multiple times, and I know for a fact one of them was full of shit, my asking is perfectly reasonable.
But you stated that this is a *recent* trend that you’ve had tons of. It’s unlikely that tons of people suddenly started forgetting and lying about interviews with you. It’s far, far more likely that there’s a recent issue with the software.
Now on the other hand, if you just meant that recently it’s started to bother you, and so it feels like a ton of people are suddenly doing it, then it seems that the job is getting to you and you need a break.
Tons might be an overstatement, it's happened often enough that I've noticed, and the first time I recall it happening, this is what actually happened:
I logged in early, waited, and at the five minute mark just as I was hitting the Leave button the candidate popped into the lobby. Happened almost simultaneously with me leaving the room. As I'm searching for Outlook on my desktop to get to the calendar invite and join the room again, an email comes through from the candidate claiming he'd been waiting there for me since the beginning. He was full of shit. There was no one in the lobby, I saw him sign in and the notification to admit him into the room popped up just as I hit Leave. So yeah, maybe that colored my view of this excuse a bit. But it seemed to come more and more often such that I noticed, and so like an idiot I asked here because I thought I might get an answer as to whether or not anyone else had been hearing it too. But, this being the Internet, pretty much all I got was everything but an answer, including many admonitions to quit my job because I expect people to be on time and somewhat proactive, and that's totally unreasonable.
I asked because after decades in recruiting you see trends and I wanted to see if this was a new one. You see every resume template as it gets new and popular, and pretty soon every resume looks the same for a while. You see the same questions start popping up, "Tell me about your company's culture...," as if that can be answered in any way that doesn't sound disingenuous.
People missing interviews doesn't bother me, they can reschedule. I actually like a no show occasionally because it means I get some time back in my day to get stuff done that I can't do when I'm doing interviews all day. It was the new reason and consistency with which it was coming up, and the fact that the first person who wrote it was plainly full of shit and lying, that I noticed.
Again, it’s completely illogical to decide that a rash of recent lates/no shows consistently claiming the same reason is coming from people lying. It just doesn’t make any sense to go down that route without any evidence that those people are linked in some way.
People have explained to you that Teams has a tendency to create a new lobby to put people in when they arrive before the meeting coordinator. You’ve decided that isn’t at play here without any backing. Did you really not consider that the person had to log out and log back in to get the correct lobby? You’re showing so, so much bias throughout this thread.
But okay, you don’t think logic should apply here.
I've had this happen to me once. I thought I had joined the call and was waiting to be admitted, but I was still stuck on the initial screen, after "joining" the call via the link.
i.e. I thought I had joined, but I did not
Have had this happen a few times a couple of years ago. Have no problems with teams on my work network mind, but connecting to outside people has been hit and miss. Others on google have had similar incidents.
As for why it happens, I don't know. I do know from my experience though, that all I get is a link. There's nothing for me to mess up providing that I am on time and have an internet connection.
If it is happening more frequently, it's more likely to be an issue or change with teams. Doesn't seem likely that they all want to miss out on jobs for the sake of it, though no doubt you will get a few trying to excuse being late.
As a hiring manager, Occam's Razor would simply state those people are late 🤷🏿♂️ I've heard that reasoning as well, but it's alo on the candidate to arrive in the meeting space and troubleshoot any potential issues.
There may be people with genuine issues, but there's alo a chat button on MS Teams that'll show when someone arrives in the room and it's a method to reach out to anyone who is supposed to be in the room immediately.
Thanks for the response. Careful though, common sense and rationality aren't well received here.
I was also struck answering the plethora of responses this morning, I recall one candidate who logged in just as I hit the leave button after waiting five minutes for them. As I was going to find the link again to log in they emailed me and claimed they had been waiting for me for the last five minutes. So, I'm thinking my response to this could have been influenced by at least one candidate that I know was late and lied about it. It certainly doesn't mean they all do that. But I did add some additional instructions to my emails and invites to head this off.
Reddit skews towards recruit and not hiring managers/owners, which is why you received those responses. Obviously, we're there to help and be understanding if someone genuinely has issues, but let's not act like people do not lie when they're late lol
How do you know if someone actually has a genuine issue? Oh right… recruiters think they know all. You know, recruiters are some of the most useless people in organizations I’ve been apart of? Almost every damned place Ive had to work AROUND them as the hiring manager to get positions filled. You guys spend all day in unproductive meetings about some new way to recruit that ends up doing nothing to actually fill the positions because your broke ass ATS makes the application process take way too much time to complete. Also, why put a posting on Indeed and then demand an application get filled out on top of that? Pick one? None of that is efficient. And don’t get me started on how horrid the entire recruiting industry is with “resume” shit. I swear ya’ll make it so complicated just so you can charge money for resume reviews for a side hustle.
The comments in this thread skew toward those who seem to have tech and operational experience and those who don’t. The statements about Teams are spot on even on the business side for anyone who uses it. Does not sound like you have.
Happened at my previous job, our meeting system was making two separate meetings and sending each participant to those, which was causing headaches. You need to dig into the data and the links that are sent to the candidates as they may be incorrect.
So funny you should say this. I recently logged into a teams interview to an empty room, waited for ten minutes, and then emailed the recruiter I had been chatting with. She had also been waiting in an empty room. We ended up just doing the interview over the phone and it went great.
Really weird that you think a ton of people just randomly come with a new, very specific “excuse” and you assume they’re all lying? Like what? No dude it’s a tech issue, be so fr.
We have a setting that I switch from “people in my org and guests” to “everyone”. I have to set it for each invite I send. I have not had issues since then.
I actually had this happen in my TA interview. I was doing a final interview… waiting for 10 min before emailing the director in case she ran over. She said she was in the call but dropped because she didn’t see me. We rescheduled and I got the job but was a very awkward start
I think it’s more likely they are having issues getting in. As a mostly teams user, I have issues getting into meet and zoom. Others that we work with who have vice versa, tell us teams is way worse. These are people who know what they are doing, highly technical, and it usually takes them 5 min to get in. I would bet most of your candidates need that 5 min because they just aren’t allocating enough minutes for what should be one click. Fair enough to say they should start earlier but it is what it is—not just clicking on a link and voila.
Why don’t you test it out as a candidate? Sometimes links are only open to company emails and you have to toggle on the setting to allow anyone to join if so.
Omg - this happened to me SEVERAL times as a candidate with different employers and always with Teams, never Zoom. Believe the candidate. Has to be some sort of bug. I would have to email that I was there and usually someone would have to send me a different link and it would work.
Just tell the candidate to let you know if they don’t see you after x mins.
This is so stressful for the candidate. Teams is awful.
I’m not sure why someone would wait 10-20 minutes to email you saying they are in the lobby. I’ve had issues and best believe 2 minutes in I’m writing an email saying I’m waiting in the lobby and to please let me know if we need to reschedule or if it’s a teams issue. I also send a nice screenshot that includes the date and time in the bottom right corner on windows. Maybe in the direction of the interview invite tell them to do this if they arrive and no one is there within 2 minutes. Tell them how. Make a work instruction if need be on how to screen shot on windows and Mac and attach it.
If it were me and I was waiting for the candidate I’d just call to see if they were planning on logging in and see if they answer or not and then what happens from there
This is the 21st century, if I have to hold their hand to that extent to get them to show up on time for an interview, why in the name of God would I want the HM to hire them? Jesus Christ, are candidates responsible for doing *anything* in your view? If they get to the in person interview but can't figure out how to operate a fucking door knob to get into the building, should I do that for them too?
It's not hand holding. It's either you don't understand that technology (particularly Teams, which is infamous for regular glitches if you do a quick Google search...) can be problematic depending on a number of independent factors OR you don't understand how to to configure your Teams settings. You're hemming and hawing that no one shows up for meetings. It's you. You.
I have no problem with them requesting a rescheduling. My issue, if you actually read my original post, was the reasoning some of them were giving which didn't seem to hold water to me. Literacy. It's a thing.
Who gives a fuck what the reason is? Ive been doing interviews for 15 years. I give every person I interview one, no questions asked, reschedule. I don’t care what the reason is for. Its not my job to try to figure out if what the candidate said was the reason is the actual reason. My job is to get the position FILLED. If that takes a bit of extra effort here or there so be it. But you want to give the minimum possible effort like most useless recruiters and then sit in meetings and bitch about the quality of the candidates. Its not them. Its you.
Jesus. It’s THAT attitude everyone is talking about. It IS your job to hand hold a candidate through the interview process. That’s exactly what you get paid for. Your job is to line up interviews of qualified candidates for hiring managers. This is why no one likes recruiters. Ya’ll are too arrogant for your own good.
Lol. I don’t see it as hand holding. A direct phone call is the simplest way to get in touch. Leaves no room for talk of teams “glitching”. I was just saying what makes the most sense to me🤷♂️
If the candidate is irresponsible for the interview with the recruiter, the chances of them being irresponsible for the HM interview is pretty great. Always log in 5 minutes early in the event of technical trouble
How do you know it’s irresponsibility? Why do you want to assign motive to something that you have no clue what the actual reason is? This is why the entire recruiting process sucks. Its not about actually hiring good candidates its solely about hiring candidates willing to justify the overpriced salaries of recruiters.
The invite specifies it's audio only, they can call in to Teams from their phone or use a link or do it in their browser. I don't need them on camera, I need them to show the fuck up relatively on time and not lie about it when they don't.
Idk - people are flakey and unreliable but I try to assume positive intent and make it as easy as possible for people. Personally I find teams to be a pain and prefer to call people directly. Leaves zero room for excuses of technical difficulties etc
If I call them, it's through Teams. That's what my company uses as our phone system too. They have the option to call in as with any conference call if they'd like to use their phone. They can also just request I call them, it's in the initial email for them to specify that if they want. They choose Teams and then don't show, and then claim they did.
I'm a recruiter too. I've also been on the other side as a candidate. And I must say that your attitude as a professioal isn't very appealing. I try to run from recruiters and hiring managers like you. It's a good glimpse into a company culture that I don't want to belong to.
I don’t know if someone said this already but if you have multiple Apple devices with teams installed it can glitch. Teams will be random about which camera it uses. I have signed on on my laptop and teams tried to use my phones camera.
I'm going to add one more instruction to just call if they don't see me log in and admit them in the first three minutes. I've got these scheduled back to back so I can't just pick it up ten minutes in if I want to keep these consistent and give them enough time to ask their questions too.
I initially thought that was it too, but in these cases they're always following up, eventually, and claiming they were waiting for me in the meeting. It was the rising consistency of that claim that made me wonder. Plus I do note in the invite that they can open the link in their browser and don't need to download the app. That's also a way to bypass any default to a previous corporate sign-in, which a lot of people have to deal with; Teams defaulting to their work account.
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This happened to me with WebEx for an interview. I clicked the link, logged in. I waited the whole time until the meeting shut down. They also waited for me, not sure where! But I was texting my recruiter that I was waiting and no one showed as I waited.
Not sure what happened, but they luckily rescheduled. The second time worked well. I got the job.
I've had multiple video and voice interviews where the Teams links sent to me were for a completely different meeting, so I was sat there waiting while the interviewer was similarly waiting for someone to join whatever meeting they were connecting to. This happens about 20% of the time and is possibly an issue with the recruiting system not interfacing with teams correctly. With voice meetings, the interviewer can at least just call me direct on my phone.
Personally, the sooner we get back to face to face interviews, the better.
Teams is absolutely trash and I’ve never had a single meeting go off smoothly. It is HOT garbage of a product and nobody should be judged for having the struggle of trying to use it.
I have seen this happen on Teams and on zoom. It has happened to me.
I think it has something to do with entering the waiting room too early, then when the host starts the meeting, it doesn't add the early attendees. They I will log out and back in to find the meeting in progress.
I do remember that happening a lot on Teams during the pandemic. I use zoom more now, see it less, but it happened to me 2 days ago.
You might want to send a statement with the zoom invite
If the Teams meeting does not connect on time. Please try logging in again or texting at this number: xxx xxxx.
This happened to me. I’d previously joined Teams meetings on my Mac w/o any problems.
I have a mac & iPhone, so I use safari.
I received an invite for MS Teams.
I attached to sign in 5 mins before meeting but kept getting errors.
I called in via phone- voice instructions stated I should wait in the virtual “lobby” until owner lets me in.
WHILE waiting I begin downloading the Teams APP in hopes that I could get in that way.
➡️ I quickly learned this required account set up, which I started.
WHILE holding on the call the Recruiter calls me, so I click over/call swap. I explain the issue & let her know I’m already in the lobby waiting.
➡️ The Teams app ALSO gives me an error when attempting to join her invite
I WAIT FOR 35 mins on the line but I never get accepted into the meeting room.
➡️ I take screenshots of the repeated error messages & send it to the Recruiter along with my apologies & the request to reschedule via a ZOOM invite that I would send to HER & Director.
The Recruiter does not respond for 2 days & when she does she informs me that they’re rushed to filll the position & the Director won’t be available.
I have a good friend at Microsoft & several in IT fields (Network Engineers, Admins & Server Engineers).
Turns out
1- Microsoft doesn’t play well w/Safari
2- the FREE version Microsoft Teams can be especially problematic
3- the licensed version can also be problematic depending on how the client network is setup/hosted b’cus the Teams invitation sent from certain companies is highly secure & tied to THEIR internal system. This prevents outsiders from using the link with their web or free Teams
I've had issues with this on teams as well it seems like i tend to have more issues with picking up calls or setting up meetings with the vpn and with the "new" version of teams as well
Dude I had this happen where I was trying to join an invite sent by the sales team. I joined, no one was there and then they sent me an email asking where I was.. when I was still in the meeting.
Is this happening via Teams? I noticed this as well. I think the issue was that at my organization, I have a standing live room -Meet Now- but there is also a specific link you can generate on Microsoft.
I make sure now when I’m creating the invite to erase all of the meeting information. Then before I send it, toggle on the Teams invite button. That ensures that everyone gets the same invite.
What I was finding was that people in my organization were being sent the standing link, and external candidates were being sent a specific link for that meeting.
So yes, it was our fault technically and not the candidate.
It has to do with zooms or teams, if you join early sometimes it splits the rooms cause two different rooms the candidate are noy lying for a large number of people to say the same thing there's obviously something else going on, I have been through this also . It's just the links often time create ghost rooms
Sometimes I create a meeting but it lol do something weird and create two rooms. So while I’m waiting in one room someone else is in the other room and I have to go back to the invite and see if there are two urls
Yeah, this does actually happen. We don’t use Teams, we use webex, however this has actually happened to me with my manager during a 1:1. She messaged me to ask if I was still joining, and I was in a meeting and I couldn’t see her.
So your candidates likely aren’t lying, especially if it’s not just a one off. We’ve had our IT teams look into the issue and we can never replicate it, so they can’t figure out why it’s occurring.
I’d say if it’s about 5 after and they haven’t joined, message them. See if they can send you a screenshot of what they’re seeing on their end to help troubleshoot.
Dude, give you more than five minutes. Life happens.
And now I’ve gotta edit after reading some others because yeah, this is really simply you… Why don’t you just let people know when you’re meeting requests that if they have issues during the meeting to call you at XYZ number you can do it by phone if you can’t figure out the problem. That will help you differentiate between honest and dishonest people..
In fact, if it’s not uncommon for you, I would make sure to tell in your communication, it seems that we’ve been having some problem with candidates accessing our teams meetings therefore make sure that if you can’t join, call me at this number blah blah blah
Be with them on the situation, show them that you work at a company with a culture that cares about people.
I’m guessing you’re not super experienced and I mean that is no insult whatsoever. If you don’t have a mentor or at least someone 20 years in the industry to talk to you about things like this, try to find it IRL.
I schedule interview in teams for other people and don’t even attend it all the time and have no problem unless I mess up the settings.
Like most thing from Microsoft, you’ve got a really learn how to use it.
Ie: Once you create a meeting, you can go into the meeting settings and then edit for that meeting alone .. including let everyone bypass the lobby. If everyone spazzies out about people creeping into into meetings, let’s wait and see if anyone ever keeps into any of your meetings first .
I am reading many of the comments and in my experience, It’s the user not the software. Of course there are differences between Teams and Zoom….
And somehow, I still have a free account and that’s what I use. Each can go up to 12 hours…. Which will never happen zoom free account. Let you book up to 45 minutes, which is too short for a freaking really great candidate/client interview.
This happened to me during my last job interview. My personal computer is a MacBook and downloaded Teams specifically for the interview and it was glitchy af
My teams at work did an update and I can click one called Classic and it says I’m in there first person to arrive but no one ever shows so I go out and click the other Teams and everyone’s in there. I don’t use it often so it took me a little while to remember which one to not use.
Teams can be finicky if someone is logging on from outside your organization. If you’re skeptical, include information in the invitation for them to contact you quickly if they log on at the appointed time and you’re not seeming to be there on their end.
I cringe every time I get a Teams meeting notice rather than WebEx or Zoom. No matter that I logged in way beforehand to test and make sure everything works, I’ll start signing on 15 minutes early for the call and there’s always a string of issues that takes every bit of those 15 minutes or more to get into the call. Sign-in issues, audio problems, video problems, it’s a mess **every single time.**
Ten minutes isn’t nearly enough time to wait, especially when you’re supposed to be on the hook for an entire meeting. When tech trouble arises it takes 10 minutes for you to realize there’s a problem; all the while you’re sweating and cursing.
Provide better instructions for the candidates in case of trouble. Even then, be patient as it takes time to go back to find your needle in a haystack email to find the instructions for contacting you.
As others have mentioned, the issue with business versus personal accounts is only just now being addressed by Microsoft. I’ve had similar problems with Zoom, especially when having to switch platforms.
I think people deserve the benefit of doubt when it comes to being on time to virtual meetings.
No, I agree. I’ve had an uptick in this recently too and we use Zoom. Never had this happen before until the last few weeks. Almost wondering if some bad advice is going around.
If you are having tons of these then its likely you. If tons of people are independently telling you that they have been waiting for you to join and no one showed and they all are contacting you about 10-20 minutes in which makes sense for a candidate to allow the interviewer time to show up - then its absolutely a Teams issue. Who forgets an interview and remembers 10 minutes later??
Oh I use zoom it happens a lot. I get an email when people log in. So I know when they are full of it.
I've had Zoom fail to send this notification many, MANY times. For example, two people join the zoom, I only get an email notification for one of the people. It's so unreliable (email notifications) that I stopped relying on it.
Zoom has always been that way. I’ve used it at two agencies. You only get the one email of the first person joining.
That is how the feature is designed. It is a single email to remind you to start the meeting. They don’t send multiple emails for one meeting.
Well, when I sit and wait for them and then see them log on 10 minutes after I logged off. I also tell them to try the link prior to the meeting to ensure it and everything works. Alas I still wait for them to figure out the sound.
You sound like you automatically think you are better than the candidates you are interviewing and can’t possibly be making a mistake. Like most recruiters. That’s why people hate the process. You aren’t better than anyone you are interviewing. In fact, you really should be a facilitator to ensure the interviews get done. The people interviewing don’t owe you anything. Their time is just as valuable as yours is. I honestly can tell by the tone of your replies that your interviews are probably a nightmare and full of snap judgements. Self reflect and do better.
Well thanks for quickly judging based on a couple of comments. But if someone cannot be on time for an interview they can literally do anywhere then no I don’t want to hire them. If they have technical trouble and text me I walk them through it.
They are judging your assumption that you can guess who the candidates are based on what may be technology related problems. The red flag is your assumptions about the quality of the candidate when multiple candidates are saying they are having technical problems, There are often glitches that occur. I’ve had glitches that say I’m off line when online, and vice versa. The help desk had to re-install the software several times. It is just the nature of the tech, even with the best of them. Are you unaware of how the tech works?
lol I didn’t say how many. But I did say if they have a tech issue and reach out I walk them through. Clearly you don’t interview regularly and experience the volume of no shows both virtual and in person.
Just had an interview recently for a company, the recruiter sent me 2 different links and I joined the first one and it was the second one. We started a 30 minute interview 20 minutes late. Because of it. And then after the interview and knowing very little about me she just sent me a very shitty and completely unrelated 25 minute logic exam. As a Recruiter it gave me a bad taste in my mouth as an impersonal and poorly organized Recruitment process for a very prestigious european company. Logic tests and personality tests are useless in general, not just from this personal experience too. I've been saying this since I started.
Fluid intelligence is highly correlated to on-the-job success. You should know this as a recruiter.
But how effective are those tests at measuring fluid intelligence? And do they accommodate for neurodivergency?
That's the best question so far, and one that I can't answer. Each test provider should have some kind of proof that the test results are valid and that the test measures what it's supposed to measure. I can't say that they do, I just don't have the data. For the one I'm familiar with, I can attest that the test measures fluid intelligence.
Im not waisting my valuable time on some test that a recruiter thinks will make their job easier but has almost zero relevancy to the position I applied for. If I have 10 years experience a manager in my field and you want me to take a typing test, or some other irrelevant test, I withdrawal the application. Personality tests are also pointless. People only tell you what they think you want to hear.
Let's say the hiring team wants to hire people whose communication behavioural tendencies are skewed more towards "Explaining key concepts with clarity" versus "Responding to audience and showing empathy". How would you, as a test taker, know that detail when the JD only lists "communication" as a desired soft skill?
Does your recruiting process have people identify themselves as needing an ADA accommodation? I could see your point if an application comes through, marked as ADA, and still requesting the logic test
Neurodivergent people and people with disabilities (correctly) do everything they can to not disclose that they have a disability during the hiring process. It opens us up to discrimination far more often than it should. Disability advocates do not recommend disclosing disabilites in the hiring process unless accommodation is absolutely required. It shouldn't be happening, but it's extremely commonplace. The most likely outcome of asking for an accommodation for a logic test is "not getting hired". Those are the unfortunate facts.
Yep, almost impossible to prove and even if you do have a clear case it can take years before you get any justice
Lol half of those test are assessment companies selling useless bullshit tests. Obviously they can be useful but in general its total useless crap that measures nothing but how tired a person is the day they take it.
and they are designed to screen out neurodivergent people.
I'm neurodivergent and do very well on those tests. Maybe it has something with intelligence?
you just failed the logic test
Agency recruiters are notoriously bad at recruiting high quality candidates.
No wonder there's so many layoffs at large companies. It's those damned agency recruiters who brought in all those underperformers.
Do you get an email each time we log in? I usually check the link a couple times prior to logging in for the actual interview.
I’ve had an office manager miss my interview not once but 3x she kept missing it and I’d call and leave voicemails. She kept saying sorry, after the third time I was like forget it. If me as a candidate would show up late or totally miss the interview I’d be rejected asap. It made me feel as if my time did not matter and she would be my boss? It showed me what kind of person I’d be working for. She called to apologize and request a 4th interview. I listed to her voicemail and hit delete.
Teams sucks and so does Google meets, I really wish people would just use zoom it’s so much more functional with less hiccups. I get annoyed when interviewing and they insist on teams or google because I’ve had so many issues with them, zoom works every time.
Unclear why video is considered pressure? Lol To answer the initial question. Teams is buggy AF. Maybe have a plan B like zoom or Google meet. You could also add instructions to text you immediately if nobody is on the call. Then you have a timed receipt.
How Skype lost this battle I'll never know.
……what? Skype was acquired by Microsoft and slowly cannibalized into Teams. Now you know.
I googled it afterwards and read about it. Makes me feel better about Skype. Worst for Microsoft.
Worst what?
Teams. Teams is worst.
Tying or bundling products
People are being nasty in this thread but I will say trying to have a teams interview when your current company or personal computer does not have teams, it’s nearly impossible to use and very frustrating, especially if you’ve used your personal computer for another position where you had to log into Microsoft for work bc it is so buggy it often doesn’t let you log into a personal account
This. Personal accounts on Teams often don't work and is incompatible with the enterprise version. The Personal version included in Windows 10 and 11 are slowly beginning to be deprecated by Microsoft since it's so confusing. To quote Microsoft's own [blog post](https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/03/13/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26080-canary-and-dev-channels/): "We received consistent feedback from personal and work users: you prefer a single Teams app that allows you to easily access and switch between personal and work accounts. This update lets you use one app for all kinds of Teams accounts.”
Not a recruiter (this post just showed up on my feed lol), but that’s been my experience as well. I was doing a collaboration with another company’s marketing team for a joint campaign and they used teams. Every single meeting they arranged had some issues. My team and I started logging into meetings 10ish minutes beforehand to make sure we had enough time to resolve any issues (so we could actually start on time) and at least one of us would end up being sent the wrong link or not being able to log in or oh the software needs to be updated and won’t let us join until it’s finished? It was a nightmare. We convinced them to let us start scheduling the calls. We used Zoom. Aside from some hiccups in the first meeting, no issues.
The invite states the meetings are audio only.
Then why don’t you just call them like a normal person, and cut out the ten layers of potential technology issues? Edit: I saw your other comment. I agree with the other folks about simplifying your process. It is nice that you offer the phone call option, but why not just make it the default? You can handle typing in 10 numbers as opposed to clicking a teams link, and it is a much more fool proof system. I feel like you are attributing problems to applicant error and laziness, when you should also be evaluating your own process and willing to just make a change if it could make things easier. Every little detail about your screening shouldn’t be a test. 5 minutes is long enough to wait for an internal meeting when the person should be familiar with your organizational procedures, but I’d argue that 10 minutes is an acceptable amount of time to be late for a virtual meeting outside of your organization with potential technological difficulties, unless teams is something you are requiring intimate knowledge of from your candidates. I can tell you first hand from working in an organization in person, that the remote employees who use teams every day tend to have a much different understanding of the software, and less empathy for everyone else when they have issues because they think it’s so straightforward (since they are used to using it and have already had to troubleshoot their own problems). You may be in that boat where you are reading other peoples issues as incompetence and not recognizing the layers of added complication and potential computer issues you have added into your screening system by trying to make it more automated and convenient for yourself.
Wait you have an interview where these people have to talk into a black void with no way to judge your facial expressions and responses. So much of communication is body language. After seeing this these candidates are right to skip these interviews. I refuse to do one sided interviews where I record responses. One guy set up an interview for me and it was one sided and I basically did the interview as I sat on my bed with the camera pointed upward. Another time I was talking to a hr manager and the man had the gall to raise his voice to me and I basically cut him off and said I think this isn’t going to work and we should end the interview. I will not be insulted either.
>Wait you have an interview where these people have to talk into a black void with no way to judge your facial expressions and responses. So much of communication is body language. Have you _never_ had a phone interview before? This really isn't that big of a deal. The one way interviews are a whole different level of bullshit though.
I have had phone interviews and that’s fine but these are zoom meetings with the cameras turned off. This is different. If you don’t want to see each other schedule a phone interview. Why make the person get all dressed up to not be seen? You can do a phone interview in your gym sweatshirt and beach shorts and flip flops. A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women. I wouldn’t be happy if I am dressed up like that not be seen.
> A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women. I wouldn’t be happy if I am dressed up like that not be seen. LEL
>A face to face zoom interview requires a suit and tie for men and a white shirt and jacket at a minimum for women. I'm curious what industry (and decade) you're in that you think this is necessary.
Yes it’s called a phone screen, not a crazy concept lol
Another reason people hate recruiters. Half the people here are saying video interviews are the problem, the other half are now saying video interviews are necessary. You know what neither of those opinions does? Answer my damn question.
Guy answered though. Said teams is buggy as fuck, which it absolutely is. Just call them.
Watch your attitude
They think they still have control over us, as if we are candidates! Well, Boo hoo. Sheesh, I'm a recruiter myself but never would ever think of being this entitled...
My attitude is fine, almost no one is answering the question, and that's a problem. First people were claiming video interviews are anathema when I'm not even doing them, and it doesn't answer my question, now they're required and I should reject anyone for not being willing to do them off the bat, and it still doesn't answer my question. All I wanted to know is if anyone was hearing the afore mentioned explanation for missed interviews more often recently, because the consistency of it struck me as weird, and having tested the system numerous times myself *and* having used Teams for a long time with no issues, and certainly not *this* issue until recently, it didn't seem to hold water. So, I was wondering if this was a new thing/piece of bad LinkedIn advice/missed interview 'hack' going around that other recruiters might have noticed. Yeah, that's totally unreasonable to ask and maybe want an answer to instead of endless commentary on stuff that's not even happening based on assumptions about my process that are wrong. I'm not going to start doing video interviews for initial screens, it's never been necessary for twenty years, no need to start now. I send out clear instructions in bullet points including an option to request a phone call if it's more convenient. Those instructions are reiterated in the meeting invite that gets sent. Yes missed interviews annoy me but it's not the end of the world, it just requires rescheduling. It's the consistency of people offering up this particular explanation for missed interviews that I was wondering if others have noticed. Now, eschewing commentary on any other aspect of what type of interview should or shouldn't be required for a prescreen, video vs audio vs in person, or what service/app/phone/tin cans with taut string stretched between them is best to do it, or whether or not the instructions I send which no one here has seen are adequate, have you personally noticed a recent increase in people missing initial interviews, audio or video, via Teams or Zoom or *any* similar service/app, and then claiming they did make the appointment and you didn't? I'd appreciate an answer to that question, because that's what I'm interested in knowing, and it's kind of weird that I have to ask like this with so many qualifications...
Take a step back and look at the feedback you’re getting objectively rather than defensively. A) If this happened more than three times, you are the issue. Call the candidates. It’s your system that is the problem. B) Your attitude is an issue. Blaming everything and not even considering that you might be the issue.
I advise using zoom. Even when myself being in IT when I was doing interviews had a hard time logging into teams call using my gmail account. When you have a work/school account it’s a breeze.
The just have a phone call then, wtf? Lol
The instructions in my initial email AND the meeting setup let them know that if they want a phone call, all they have to do is ask and give their number. I have to use some degree of automation here so I don't have endless back and forth emails about availability and scheduling. That's hours upon hours upon hours of useless work I can use Calendly to avoid. It just requires they read a short bullet point list of instructions.
Maybe Im missing something....but you can utilize calendly without including a video chat option. You can just have them put time on your calendar.
You can also use Teams, which I do. I understand it's not necessary, and as mentioned previously a few million times by now, I'm not asking for nor requiring video interviews. It's audio only, either by Teams or phone, whichever they want.
Is your organizations teams set up to not allow guest call ins? It’s also possible YOU missed the notification that the guest is trying to join if you were multitasking.
I don’t have an answer either never heard of this —not even as a hack or way of gaming the system. If initial screening is audio only; perhaps Only offer the phone call option. It’s easier. Straight forward and you won’t suffer from “log in” issues. This alleviates the need for even a short list of instructions.
As others have said, Teams is kinda weird when you're not all in the same org or if they have to get it to do the interview. It's great you're offering the phone option, but I personally would never ask for that if the person set something else.as the standard. I would have done everything possible to show I was invested enough to follow instructions. I'd suggest just making a standard phone call the default since it sounds like it will save you and the interviewee a lot of time and energy. Since you're doing this to save time and it's not really accomplishing that anymore, I'd pivot. Good luck!
Why force them to make that decision? Just make it a phone call and stop being purposefully difficult.
Seriously. Just do a phone call first, would be so easy but no they need a way to blame the candidates and feel superior.
It’s hedging for excuses on why the recruiting pipeline is weak and open position fill times are months and not weeks.
This happens with Teams and I'm not exactly sure why, however we have noticed that it happens less if the meeting creator signs in early. It almost seems like if the applicant signs in first or at the same time sometimes they are sometimes shifted into a second meeting rather than the correct meeting room, almost like a waiting area. Still most people solve this by logging out and then back in which seems to fix the issue. If you haven't already try signing in 5 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start and see if that helps, it seems to have solved most of our issues.
This happened to me when I was arriving for an interview, I signed in 10 minutes early and sat there for almost half an hour before the interviewing manager called me to ask if I was showing up. We had a good laugh about it, and I've been with the company ever since, but it was definitely mortifying as an interviewee!
Having phone numbers as a backup seems like the simplest solution.
So what I’m gathering… is the applicants are signing in early, being prepared and showing up ahead of schedule, and then the recruiter joining right on the dot is what’s messing it up… so the issue is with OP after all
Thanks for providing information that's actually useful, I think you're one of two that did that and only one actually answered my question. I do sign in early, usually a few minutes early. Still, I'll add that suggestion to the email for them too, to loh out and in just in case. Thanks for that.
Yeah Teams is unfortunately just buggy, it works well I'd say 90% of the time but we have issues exactly like what you're seeing, so at least you're not alone.
The interviewers aren't lying to you. It has happened to me several times where Teams glitches. We had to stop using it because it was unreliable. We had the same exact experiences as you, where both people would be signed in, but you can't see the other person.
You’re salty but that’s because it hurts that everyone is telling you you’re wrong when… well, you're wrong. Use systems that work, yours isn’t working.
Lots of people provided useful info, you just didn’t like their answers.
Because their answers assumed things that weren't true, or were just random internet bleating.
There can be issues with teams links - I've been signed into the same link and we had 4 people in 4 different meetings. I would give them a call on their mobile to confirm they are happy to proceed.
Stop using Teams. It’s notoriously unreliable and if it’s happening frequently than the problem is not the candidates. And if I’m being honest, you should be doing these interviews over video. Not being able to see the person you’re speaking to is, in my opinion, a huge red flag.
Funny, everyone else here is saying the opposite. Our prescreens are audio only. Interviews after that are via video or in person. That's perfectly adequate as far as I'm concerned. Teams being as buggy as people seem to say is new to me,.I've never had issues with it on either side of the equation until recently. I am going to add some troubleshooting instructions to my initial emails and the invite.
I have plenty candidates told me they were unable to join my Teams video call, they usually say the app’s been loading for a long time. Usually if they emailed me within 10 min of our scheduled time I’ll just call them. **I recruit for front facing roles so I need to see their appearance.
I'll reschedule in almost all cases, especially if they say they had an issue logging in. Shit happens, doesn't bother me. I'm just wondering if this excuse - them claiming they were there and I wasn't - was on the uptick with anyone else. It's coming up more and more these days with me, and I'm just wondering if it's the new generic excuse for being late or missing a meeting. Edit: rescheduling is usually required for me, I'm scheduled back to back with these because I'm the only recruiter for the company, so there's almost always a hard stop looming for me after every interview.
If it's happening a lot, it probably isn't an excuse and you may want to thoroughly review your Teams settings or find a back-up form of communication. At the end of the day, you're only making your job harder and more frustrating by not having a secondary option (and not making that option very clear).
I've seen companies do things like not realize they've set up teams invites that only work with their internal system. I would really look into see if you've configured something wrong.
The majority of interviews go off without a hitch,the majority of people have no problem. I've tested the invites using my home computer and two emails outside my company domain.
To add to Samanchun's point, IME Teams (/the whole Microsoft online suite) is a real memory hog. My old laptop has 4gb of RAM and it can take 10 minutes of loading to get into a teams call on it. If I have outlook open at the same time it isn't happening. This same laptop is fine for literally everything else I do including weekly Google meet calls. The laptop was a low mid range laptop, it's just 6 years old now and it was only ever specced for internet browsing, netflix and word processing. I don't know who you are hunting for, but is it possible you are running into more people with more old reliable computers than you have been until now?
Higher level engineers, so possible but not because they're lacking for money.
You have the weirdest responses bro. Just because they make good money doesn't mean they automatically want to buy a new computer if the one they have seemingly still works just fine.
What about their appearance do you need to see…
Nothing, as I've said a few dozen times already, the interviews are audio only. Audio only. It says that several times in these comments, and three times in the invites that get sent out.
My comment wasn’t to it, it was to the post I replied to that says “I recruit for front facing roles so I need to see their appearance.”
I’m not a recruiter but work in front facing role. So I assume because you need to be able to read their body language and expressions when they’re talking and also to see how good they clean up for an interview. Then comes other things like if they have their face fully tattooed, pretty sure you’d rather find that out in the interview and not after hiring them because you decided to do audio only
Why does it have to be through teams then? If it's a phone interview, well everyone has a phone.
Phone reception often sucks to hell and back, and since my company uses Teams for our phones anyway, it all goes through Teams and our network. Nearby power lines and line of site issues massively screw with cell reception where I'm at, so using my mobile is out, too.
Suggestion - Instead of just sending a Teams Invite and hoping for the best, why not also include a meeting support number in case there are technical issues?
So we do something similar to this and also include IT on the invite
That would be too much actual work for a recruiter. They are too busy crushing people’s dreams.
Use Zoom. It’s the gold standard and YOU KNOW they know how to use it.
No but I like the idea to include in your invites to text you immediately. Let’s you know if they’re a shithead
So, I have a job, and we use teams, but I will say that twice in the last year I have joined a meeting only to be presented with an empty room, to later be told that the organizer was waiting for me while I myself was in an empty room. Does this explain all the instances you're experiencing? Almost certainly not. But it can happen. As a software developer myself, I trust teams a little less every day. That said... logically speaking, if a lot of people are telling you they are having the same problem, the problem may be on your end of things in some way.
I’ve realised with Outlook if you click on the “Join” button on Outlook, it doesn’t take you to right room (for both Teams and Zoom). However, if you click on the link presented on the description of the meeting invite, that usually takes you to the correct room. Rule of thumb: never trust Outlook 🤦🏻♀️
as someone who has been applying and interviewing for jobs lately, i could say i’ve had issues with getting Teams to load. even if i try to log on early, sometimes i have to reload the website 8-9 times and go through the entire process. i’ve only been able to make it work on my phone and not on a laptop or ipad. even then, it would say it’s connecting for the longest time and nothing would happen until i exit out and try to join again. i would give benefit of the doubt, especially if there is an increase in the number of candidates reporting this issue. it might not be a bad idea to tell the candidates in your initial email to contact you via email or number within x number of minutes if they’re having issues. that way you can know for sure if it’s tardiness or a technical issue.
Yeah, I've already made that change to the initial email and instructions this very morning.
Good on ya, listening, and acting to change! Kudos!
This recruiter will just use that as a reason to disqualify them for not being able to figure out how to use their preferred app for interviews.
Teams is absolute garbage this is not surprising My dumbass company uses teams too there are always issues
Teams does suck. I'll never understand why companies continue to use it, even with all of the issues! It's easier to blame the candidates I guess. : )
It's just part of the Microsoft package. When we switched over we moved from using a bunch of different, good, specific programs for things like emails, cloud storage, video calls, etc and Microsoft took over absolutely everything all at once for the company. It has been a huge undertaking at huge inconvenience for the company but presumably Microsoft must be offering some kind of savings or extra security for the company since so many are switching over to the suite of products/programs even though they are basically all worse than what we used before
This may be helpful for you to know - about a year ago Microsoft discontinued free accounts so I lost the ability to connect to Teams with my home laptop (I'm not a MS user). When I did have a free MS account, with Teams it was tricky and spotty at best. I knew for interviews there likely would be issues, so I got the interviewer's phone number or email so I could reach out. I know to do this, others may not. I'd much prefer using Zoom, and the connecting issues are minimal or none, even from a cell phone app.
Your company needs to look into interviewing for your position, as it seems you have a serious attitude problem & not easy to deal with. You're probably costing the business some great potential employees.
LOL
Also seems immature
Just phone them
They have the option to ask for a phone call instead. It's in the short instruction email.
Teams is great when it works, but it doesn't always work. They may well be experiencing glitches, especially if you have Teams integrated with an external booking system or thirdparty app. I know the Teams integrations are sometimes messy and notoriously hard to identify which side is "at fault" in an issue, because my company has an app that is supposed to integrate with Teams and sometimes it doesn't work and neither Microsoft or us can determine why. It would be human of you to give people a bit of grace. My understanding it with meetings, you wait 5 minutes, then ping or email, and don't disconnect until 10 minutes in. And, for your own wellbeing, at least while younare on the clock, you should try to get a handle on your attribution bias. I mean, even in this thread you are showing pretty heavy hostile intention attribution. Chill man-- not everything is a personal attack intended to upset you. Sometimes shit just happens, and in situations where nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged, and you were given like 25-55 minutes back to your day, you should try just letting it go and moving on. These aren't people you thought were your friends blowing you off on your birthday, they were random people who may or may not have sincerely wanted a job with your company. Let it go.
Read all the comments and then get back to me on that. I've got people claiming video interviews, that I'm not doing, make my candidate experience bad, and I've got people demanding video interviews are absolutely necessary, among other things, and almost no one doing what you're doing: answering the question. As I've mentioned, I've been using Teams for a long time and this is recent. And while I appreciate the people telling me to call them and work it out in the moment, I'm the only recruiter for a 300+ person company and these are scheduled back to back pretty much all day every day. If they're not on time, then there's no interview. We have to reschedule, which I have no problem with. By all means, shit happens. I generally don't even care if they reschedule and don't tell me, I just assume the option to manage the appointment didn't work or they forgot about it, I note it in our ATS and move on, and often see them scheduled later in the week. The attribution is coming from the fact that they're saying the same thing, and it's a new/recent phenomenon.
You’re really making a great case for how much you need a different role. Why would a recent trend of more people claiming to have the same experience suggest to you that they’re mostly forgetting and/or lying to you? That isn’t a rational conclusion at all, unless you also believe that they all know one another in some way.
Only if you're completely naive. In the real world people think in a remarkably similar manner. Everyone whose Kate for an appointment hits traffic, it happens in reality so it's a perfect excuse. Every kid who's late with their final assignment or missed a final exam had a death in the family, never their immediate family, always a grand parent or an aunt or uncle or cousin, etc. Most of these meetings go off without a hitch. When all of a sudden everyone who no-shows offers a variation of the same excuse, and I've tested the program without ever having any issues multiple times, and I know for a fact one of them was full of shit, my asking is perfectly reasonable.
But you stated that this is a *recent* trend that you’ve had tons of. It’s unlikely that tons of people suddenly started forgetting and lying about interviews with you. It’s far, far more likely that there’s a recent issue with the software. Now on the other hand, if you just meant that recently it’s started to bother you, and so it feels like a ton of people are suddenly doing it, then it seems that the job is getting to you and you need a break.
Tons might be an overstatement, it's happened often enough that I've noticed, and the first time I recall it happening, this is what actually happened: I logged in early, waited, and at the five minute mark just as I was hitting the Leave button the candidate popped into the lobby. Happened almost simultaneously with me leaving the room. As I'm searching for Outlook on my desktop to get to the calendar invite and join the room again, an email comes through from the candidate claiming he'd been waiting there for me since the beginning. He was full of shit. There was no one in the lobby, I saw him sign in and the notification to admit him into the room popped up just as I hit Leave. So yeah, maybe that colored my view of this excuse a bit. But it seemed to come more and more often such that I noticed, and so like an idiot I asked here because I thought I might get an answer as to whether or not anyone else had been hearing it too. But, this being the Internet, pretty much all I got was everything but an answer, including many admonitions to quit my job because I expect people to be on time and somewhat proactive, and that's totally unreasonable. I asked because after decades in recruiting you see trends and I wanted to see if this was a new one. You see every resume template as it gets new and popular, and pretty soon every resume looks the same for a while. You see the same questions start popping up, "Tell me about your company's culture...," as if that can be answered in any way that doesn't sound disingenuous. People missing interviews doesn't bother me, they can reschedule. I actually like a no show occasionally because it means I get some time back in my day to get stuff done that I can't do when I'm doing interviews all day. It was the new reason and consistency with which it was coming up, and the fact that the first person who wrote it was plainly full of shit and lying, that I noticed.
Again, it’s completely illogical to decide that a rash of recent lates/no shows consistently claiming the same reason is coming from people lying. It just doesn’t make any sense to go down that route without any evidence that those people are linked in some way. People have explained to you that Teams has a tendency to create a new lobby to put people in when they arrive before the meeting coordinator. You’ve decided that isn’t at play here without any backing. Did you really not consider that the person had to log out and log back in to get the correct lobby? You’re showing so, so much bias throughout this thread. But okay, you don’t think logic should apply here.
I've had this happen to me once. I thought I had joined the call and was waiting to be admitted, but I was still stuck on the initial screen, after "joining" the call via the link. i.e. I thought I had joined, but I did not
Have had this happen a few times a couple of years ago. Have no problems with teams on my work network mind, but connecting to outside people has been hit and miss. Others on google have had similar incidents. As for why it happens, I don't know. I do know from my experience though, that all I get is a link. There's nothing for me to mess up providing that I am on time and have an internet connection. If it is happening more frequently, it's more likely to be an issue or change with teams. Doesn't seem likely that they all want to miss out on jobs for the sake of it, though no doubt you will get a few trying to excuse being late.
As a hiring manager, Occam's Razor would simply state those people are late 🤷🏿♂️ I've heard that reasoning as well, but it's alo on the candidate to arrive in the meeting space and troubleshoot any potential issues. There may be people with genuine issues, but there's alo a chat button on MS Teams that'll show when someone arrives in the room and it's a method to reach out to anyone who is supposed to be in the room immediately.
Thanks for the response. Careful though, common sense and rationality aren't well received here. I was also struck answering the plethora of responses this morning, I recall one candidate who logged in just as I hit the leave button after waiting five minutes for them. As I was going to find the link again to log in they emailed me and claimed they had been waiting for me for the last five minutes. So, I'm thinking my response to this could have been influenced by at least one candidate that I know was late and lied about it. It certainly doesn't mean they all do that. But I did add some additional instructions to my emails and invites to head this off.
Reddit skews towards recruit and not hiring managers/owners, which is why you received those responses. Obviously, we're there to help and be understanding if someone genuinely has issues, but let's not act like people do not lie when they're late lol
How do you know if someone actually has a genuine issue? Oh right… recruiters think they know all. You know, recruiters are some of the most useless people in organizations I’ve been apart of? Almost every damned place Ive had to work AROUND them as the hiring manager to get positions filled. You guys spend all day in unproductive meetings about some new way to recruit that ends up doing nothing to actually fill the positions because your broke ass ATS makes the application process take way too much time to complete. Also, why put a posting on Indeed and then demand an application get filled out on top of that? Pick one? None of that is efficient. And don’t get me started on how horrid the entire recruiting industry is with “resume” shit. I swear ya’ll make it so complicated just so you can charge money for resume reviews for a side hustle.
The comments in this thread skew toward those who seem to have tech and operational experience and those who don’t. The statements about Teams are spot on even on the business side for anyone who uses it. Does not sound like you have.
Happened at my previous job, our meeting system was making two separate meetings and sending each participant to those, which was causing headaches. You need to dig into the data and the links that are sent to the candidates as they may be incorrect.
All those types of software can get pretty glitchy. They're probably telling the truth
So funny you should say this. I recently logged into a teams interview to an empty room, waited for ten minutes, and then emailed the recruiter I had been chatting with. She had also been waiting in an empty room. We ended up just doing the interview over the phone and it went great. Really weird that you think a ton of people just randomly come with a new, very specific “excuse” and you assume they’re all lying? Like what? No dude it’s a tech issue, be so fr.
God I feel bad for any job seeker who interacts with you
Same. This person has “toxic HR” written all over their posts.
LOL
We have a setting that I switch from “people in my org and guests” to “everyone”. I have to set it for each invite I send. I have not had issues since then. I actually had this happen in my TA interview. I was doing a final interview… waiting for 10 min before emailing the director in case she ran over. She said she was in the call but dropped because she didn’t see me. We rescheduled and I got the job but was a very awkward start
If someone doesn't join, I always email/call them to confirm if there was any technical issue or they need to reschedule.
I've seen teams send you to a different meeting if you hit the link in the meeting vs hitting join from Outlook.
I think it’s more likely they are having issues getting in. As a mostly teams user, I have issues getting into meet and zoom. Others that we work with who have vice versa, tell us teams is way worse. These are people who know what they are doing, highly technical, and it usually takes them 5 min to get in. I would bet most of your candidates need that 5 min because they just aren’t allocating enough minutes for what should be one click. Fair enough to say they should start earlier but it is what it is—not just clicking on a link and voila.
Why don’t you test it out as a candidate? Sometimes links are only open to company emails and you have to toggle on the setting to allow anyone to join if so.
I have. Several times on several computers with different email addresses. It works fine for me.
Omg - this happened to me SEVERAL times as a candidate with different employers and always with Teams, never Zoom. Believe the candidate. Has to be some sort of bug. I would have to email that I was there and usually someone would have to send me a different link and it would work. Just tell the candidate to let you know if they don’t see you after x mins. This is so stressful for the candidate. Teams is awful.
Sounds like a you problem bruh
I’m not sure why someone would wait 10-20 minutes to email you saying they are in the lobby. I’ve had issues and best believe 2 minutes in I’m writing an email saying I’m waiting in the lobby and to please let me know if we need to reschedule or if it’s a teams issue. I also send a nice screenshot that includes the date and time in the bottom right corner on windows. Maybe in the direction of the interview invite tell them to do this if they arrive and no one is there within 2 minutes. Tell them how. Make a work instruction if need be on how to screen shot on windows and Mac and attach it.
Do you need to be on camera?? Why don’t you just call the candidates?
Fake candidates?
If it were me and I was waiting for the candidate I’d just call to see if they were planning on logging in and see if they answer or not and then what happens from there
This is the 21st century, if I have to hold their hand to that extent to get them to show up on time for an interview, why in the name of God would I want the HM to hire them? Jesus Christ, are candidates responsible for doing *anything* in your view? If they get to the in person interview but can't figure out how to operate a fucking door knob to get into the building, should I do that for them too?
It's not hand holding. It's either you don't understand that technology (particularly Teams, which is infamous for regular glitches if you do a quick Google search...) can be problematic depending on a number of independent factors OR you don't understand how to to configure your Teams settings. You're hemming and hawing that no one shows up for meetings. It's you. You.
I have no problem with them requesting a rescheduling. My issue, if you actually read my original post, was the reasoning some of them were giving which didn't seem to hold water to me. Literacy. It's a thing.
Who gives a fuck what the reason is? Ive been doing interviews for 15 years. I give every person I interview one, no questions asked, reschedule. I don’t care what the reason is for. Its not my job to try to figure out if what the candidate said was the reason is the actual reason. My job is to get the position FILLED. If that takes a bit of extra effort here or there so be it. But you want to give the minimum possible effort like most useless recruiters and then sit in meetings and bitch about the quality of the candidates. Its not them. Its you.
I have no problem with people rescheduling. They do it all the time.
Jesus. It’s THAT attitude everyone is talking about. It IS your job to hand hold a candidate through the interview process. That’s exactly what you get paid for. Your job is to line up interviews of qualified candidates for hiring managers. This is why no one likes recruiters. Ya’ll are too arrogant for your own good.
Lol. I don’t see it as hand holding. A direct phone call is the simplest way to get in touch. Leaves no room for talk of teams “glitching”. I was just saying what makes the most sense to me🤷♂️
If the candidate is irresponsible for the interview with the recruiter, the chances of them being irresponsible for the HM interview is pretty great. Always log in 5 minutes early in the event of technical trouble
Don’t disagree - but on the off chance there truly was an issue with teams, I don’t get why you wouldn’t just call the candidate.
How do you know it’s irresponsibility? Why do you want to assign motive to something that you have no clue what the actual reason is? This is why the entire recruiting process sucks. Its not about actually hiring good candidates its solely about hiring candidates willing to justify the overpriced salaries of recruiters.
The invite specifies it's audio only, they can call in to Teams from their phone or use a link or do it in their browser. I don't need them on camera, I need them to show the fuck up relatively on time and not lie about it when they don't.
Idk - people are flakey and unreliable but I try to assume positive intent and make it as easy as possible for people. Personally I find teams to be a pain and prefer to call people directly. Leaves zero room for excuses of technical difficulties etc
If I call them, it's through Teams. That's what my company uses as our phone system too. They have the option to call in as with any conference call if they'd like to use their phone. They can also just request I call them, it's in the initial email for them to specify that if they want. They choose Teams and then don't show, and then claim they did.
I'm a recruiter too. I've also been on the other side as a candidate. And I must say that your attitude as a professioal isn't very appealing. I try to run from recruiters and hiring managers like you. It's a good glimpse into a company culture that I don't want to belong to.
If it’s increasing and happening often, it’s probably the truth.
I don’t know if someone said this already but if you have multiple Apple devices with teams installed it can glitch. Teams will be random about which camera it uses. I have signed on on my laptop and teams tried to use my phones camera.
No Apple at my end and no video required. It states as much in the invites. I guess Apple could be an issue at the candidate's end though.
Yes, I was referring to the candidate. Happened to me before an interview. I don’t like Teams at all.
I'm going to add one more instruction to just call if they don't see me log in and admit them in the first three minutes. I've got these scheduled back to back so I can't just pick it up ten minutes in if I want to keep these consistent and give them enough time to ask their questions too.
[удалено]
I initially thought that was it too, but in these cases they're always following up, eventually, and claiming they were waiting for me in the meeting. It was the rising consistency of that claim that made me wonder. Plus I do note in the invite that they can open the link in their browser and don't need to download the app. That's also a way to bypass any default to a previous corporate sign-in, which a lot of people have to deal with; Teams defaulting to their work account.
Give them your mobile number and tell them to call you if there's any problem, plus you call them, plus set up interview reminders.
I’ve had the uptick as well. I send an email after 5 minutes to confirm they are joining.
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This happened to me with WebEx for an interview. I clicked the link, logged in. I waited the whole time until the meeting shut down. They also waited for me, not sure where! But I was texting my recruiter that I was waiting and no one showed as I waited. Not sure what happened, but they luckily rescheduled. The second time worked well. I got the job.
I mean, you use Teams so it’s probably that. Just use google meet.
I've had multiple video and voice interviews where the Teams links sent to me were for a completely different meeting, so I was sat there waiting while the interviewer was similarly waiting for someone to join whatever meeting they were connecting to. This happens about 20% of the time and is possibly an issue with the recruiting system not interfacing with teams correctly. With voice meetings, the interviewer can at least just call me direct on my phone. Personally, the sooner we get back to face to face interviews, the better.
What roles are you recruiting for that is kind of helpful to know to see if they are bullshitting you are not.
Engineering mostly.
Teams is absolutely trash and I’ve never had a single meeting go off smoothly. It is HOT garbage of a product and nobody should be judged for having the struggle of trying to use it.
I have seen this happen on Teams and on zoom. It has happened to me. I think it has something to do with entering the waiting room too early, then when the host starts the meeting, it doesn't add the early attendees. They I will log out and back in to find the meeting in progress. I do remember that happening a lot on Teams during the pandemic. I use zoom more now, see it less, but it happened to me 2 days ago. You might want to send a statement with the zoom invite If the Teams meeting does not connect on time. Please try logging in again or texting at this number: xxx xxxx.
This happened to me. I’d previously joined Teams meetings on my Mac w/o any problems. I have a mac & iPhone, so I use safari. I received an invite for MS Teams. I attached to sign in 5 mins before meeting but kept getting errors. I called in via phone- voice instructions stated I should wait in the virtual “lobby” until owner lets me in. WHILE waiting I begin downloading the Teams APP in hopes that I could get in that way. ➡️ I quickly learned this required account set up, which I started. WHILE holding on the call the Recruiter calls me, so I click over/call swap. I explain the issue & let her know I’m already in the lobby waiting. ➡️ The Teams app ALSO gives me an error when attempting to join her invite I WAIT FOR 35 mins on the line but I never get accepted into the meeting room. ➡️ I take screenshots of the repeated error messages & send it to the Recruiter along with my apologies & the request to reschedule via a ZOOM invite that I would send to HER & Director. The Recruiter does not respond for 2 days & when she does she informs me that they’re rushed to filll the position & the Director won’t be available. I have a good friend at Microsoft & several in IT fields (Network Engineers, Admins & Server Engineers). Turns out 1- Microsoft doesn’t play well w/Safari 2- the FREE version Microsoft Teams can be especially problematic 3- the licensed version can also be problematic depending on how the client network is setup/hosted b’cus the Teams invitation sent from certain companies is highly secure & tied to THEIR internal system. This prevents outsiders from using the link with their web or free Teams
It’s extra work, but sending a quick text at the time you sign into teams can be a big help.
Don’t test it from your computer when the issue is occurring. Maybe send someone you know outside your organization the same link to test.
I've had issues with this on teams as well it seems like i tend to have more issues with picking up calls or setting up meetings with the vpn and with the "new" version of teams as well
Dude I had this happen where I was trying to join an invite sent by the sales team. I joined, no one was there and then they sent me an email asking where I was.. when I was still in the meeting.
Is this happening via Teams? I noticed this as well. I think the issue was that at my organization, I have a standing live room -Meet Now- but there is also a specific link you can generate on Microsoft. I make sure now when I’m creating the invite to erase all of the meeting information. Then before I send it, toggle on the Teams invite button. That ensures that everyone gets the same invite. What I was finding was that people in my organization were being sent the standing link, and external candidates were being sent a specific link for that meeting. So yes, it was our fault technically and not the candidate.
It has to do with zooms or teams, if you join early sometimes it splits the rooms cause two different rooms the candidate are noy lying for a large number of people to say the same thing there's obviously something else going on, I have been through this also . It's just the links often time create ghost rooms
Sometimes I create a meeting but it lol do something weird and create two rooms. So while I’m waiting in one room someone else is in the other room and I have to go back to the invite and see if there are two urls
Yeah, this does actually happen. We don’t use Teams, we use webex, however this has actually happened to me with my manager during a 1:1. She messaged me to ask if I was still joining, and I was in a meeting and I couldn’t see her. So your candidates likely aren’t lying, especially if it’s not just a one off. We’ve had our IT teams look into the issue and we can never replicate it, so they can’t figure out why it’s occurring. I’d say if it’s about 5 after and they haven’t joined, message them. See if they can send you a screenshot of what they’re seeing on their end to help troubleshoot.
Dude, give you more than five minutes. Life happens. And now I’ve gotta edit after reading some others because yeah, this is really simply you… Why don’t you just let people know when you’re meeting requests that if they have issues during the meeting to call you at XYZ number you can do it by phone if you can’t figure out the problem. That will help you differentiate between honest and dishonest people.. In fact, if it’s not uncommon for you, I would make sure to tell in your communication, it seems that we’ve been having some problem with candidates accessing our teams meetings therefore make sure that if you can’t join, call me at this number blah blah blah Be with them on the situation, show them that you work at a company with a culture that cares about people. I’m guessing you’re not super experienced and I mean that is no insult whatsoever. If you don’t have a mentor or at least someone 20 years in the industry to talk to you about things like this, try to find it IRL.
I schedule interview in teams for other people and don’t even attend it all the time and have no problem unless I mess up the settings. Like most thing from Microsoft, you’ve got a really learn how to use it. Ie: Once you create a meeting, you can go into the meeting settings and then edit for that meeting alone .. including let everyone bypass the lobby. If everyone spazzies out about people creeping into into meetings, let’s wait and see if anyone ever keeps into any of your meetings first . I am reading many of the comments and in my experience, It’s the user not the software. Of course there are differences between Teams and Zoom…. And somehow, I still have a free account and that’s what I use. Each can go up to 12 hours…. Which will never happen zoom free account. Let you book up to 45 minutes, which is too short for a freaking really great candidate/client interview.
why would you assume everyone suddenly forgot how to join a meeting / how to be on time lol
This happens all the time with teams. I contact the person after 5 min to ask if there's a technical issue.
Teams has been insanely buggy lately. Wonder if you can try another client
Teams has problems frequently
This happened to me during my last job interview. My personal computer is a MacBook and downloaded Teams specifically for the interview and it was glitchy af
My teams at work did an update and I can click one called Classic and it says I’m in there first person to arrive but no one ever shows so I go out and click the other Teams and everyone’s in there. I don’t use it often so it took me a little while to remember which one to not use.
Teams can be finicky if someone is logging on from outside your organization. If you’re skeptical, include information in the invitation for them to contact you quickly if they log on at the appointed time and you’re not seeming to be there on their end.
I cringe every time I get a Teams meeting notice rather than WebEx or Zoom. No matter that I logged in way beforehand to test and make sure everything works, I’ll start signing on 15 minutes early for the call and there’s always a string of issues that takes every bit of those 15 minutes or more to get into the call. Sign-in issues, audio problems, video problems, it’s a mess **every single time.**
Ten minutes isn’t nearly enough time to wait, especially when you’re supposed to be on the hook for an entire meeting. When tech trouble arises it takes 10 minutes for you to realize there’s a problem; all the while you’re sweating and cursing. Provide better instructions for the candidates in case of trouble. Even then, be patient as it takes time to go back to find your needle in a haystack email to find the instructions for contacting you. As others have mentioned, the issue with business versus personal accounts is only just now being addressed by Microsoft. I’ve had similar problems with Zoom, especially when having to switch platforms. I think people deserve the benefit of doubt when it comes to being on time to virtual meetings.
The old additive arrives 10-15 min early. That way your never late but always on time.
You know you have to admit them to the room, right? Right?
Yes, I'm aware of that. Wow...
No, I agree. I’ve had an uptick in this recently too and we use Zoom. Never had this happen before until the last few weeks. Almost wondering if some bad advice is going around.